Safaricom, Vodacom acquire M-Pesa from Britain’s Vodafone – statement

KENYA’S leading telecom firm Safaricom and South Africa’s Vodacom said on Monday that they have completed the acquisition of the popular mobile money platform M-Pesa from Britain’s Vodafone, the companies said in a statement.

The firms said that the acquisition of M-Pesa’s brand, product development and support services from Vodafone was done through a newly-created joint venture.

‘The transaction, which was first announced in 2019, will accelerate M-Pesa’s growth in Africa by giving both Vodacom and Safaricom full control of the M-Pesa brand, product development and support services as well as the opportunity to expand M-PESA into new African markets,’ they said in a statement.